Saturday, December 24, 2016

Rotary Club of Thimphu Donates 6 Kidney Hemodialysis Machines

On Bhutan’s National Day - December 17, 2016, the Rotary Club of Thimphu donated 6 brand new units of Kidney Hemodialysis Machines to the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Bhutan. This Nu.6.8 million Global Grant Project took two years to realize and the collaborative spirit of 10 Rotary Districts and Clubs - across countries such as Bhutan, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and USA.

Bhutanese hospitals across the country suffer acute shortage of these life saving machines. We are told that at the JDWNRH, Thimphu, patients are so desperate for dialysis that they regularly attempt to jump queue - resulting in occasional fistfights.

His Majesty the King has gifted a new 24-beds Dialysis Center that is currently under construction. We think that our machines would provably be installed in the new Center. However, that is a decision the Health Ministry will have to take - our donation was a gift without any strings attached - we will not dictate where the machines should be installed.

In the coming months, we will also conduct in-country training and refresher courses for 9 operators of these machines.

Our immediate next project with the Health Ministry is the setting up of 3 artificial limbs fitment centers - one each in Thimphu, Gelephu and Mongaar. The world famous “JaipurLimb” technology will come to Bhutan as soon as the MoU is signed between the Health Ministry, the Rotary Club of Thimphu and some Indian donors. With the setting up of this Global Grant Project worth US$80,000.00, Bhutan will no longer need to send patients out of the country for prosthesis.

BUT GOD ALMIGHTY! - the wheels of bureaucracy grinds oh so painfully slowly! Even after four months of dogged pursuit, our MoU is still gathering moss in some unknown labyrinth! I have this uncanny feeling that the first patient that the Thimphu Center would need to treat would be our own MoU - because by the time it limps out of whatever hole it is stuck in, it would have lost a leg and an arm - thus requiring prosthesis replacement.